Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. Decreases Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Key Points

• Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. reduced its stake in AbbVie Inc. by 4.7%, now holding 299,639 shares worth approximately $62.78 million.
• Wall Street analysts show a mostly positive outlook for AbbVie, with the majority recommending a "buy" or "hold" rating and a consensus target price of $211.29.
• AbbVie recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.64 per share, which will be paid on August 15th, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 3.43%.

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 4.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 299,639 shares of the company's stock after selling 14,820 shares during the quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.'s holdings in AbbVie were worth $62,780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,144,933 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,586,948,000 after purchasing an additional 983,888 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in AbbVie by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,983,707 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,038,898,000 after purchasing an additional 778,126 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in AbbVie by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,824,626 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,878,236,000 after purchasing an additional 2,299,645 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 32.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,097,375 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,215,903,000 after purchasing an additional 4,466,971 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its position in AbbVie by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,410,277 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,915,990,000 after purchasing an additional 959,242 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ABBV. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $194.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $212.81.

AbbVie Trading Up 3.3%

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded up $6.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $195.17. The stock had a trading volume of 8,081,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,877,075. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $188.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $190.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. The stock has a market cap of $344.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.05, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.48. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.81 and a fifty-two week high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 412.03%. The company had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.65 earnings per share. AbbVie's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. AbbVie's payout ratio is currently 279.15%.

About AbbVie

AbbVie Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Humira, an injection for autoimmune and intestinal Behçet's diseases, and pyoderma gangrenosum; Skyrizi to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic disease, and Crohn's disease; Rinvoq to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, axial spondyloarthropathy, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease; Imbruvica for the treatment of adult patients with blood cancers; Epkinly to treat lymphoma; Elahere to treat cancer; and Venclexta/Venclyxto to treat blood cancers.